Two-way valve



Jan. 22, 1952 M. FUNKHOUSER TWO-WAY VALVE Filed March l2, 1948 R. m mm Nf E 5 F. VU @N mw R m M 7 .f MA W M lift/s l Patented Jan. 22, 1952 TWO-WAY VALVE Mearick Funkhouser, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a

corporation of Delaware Application March 12, 1948, Serial No. 14,489

This invention relates to improvements in two directional, fluid flow control devices.

Itis among the objects of the present invention to provide a two directional, fluid flow control device of simple and sturdy structure and design capable of differentially controlling uid flow therethrough in opposite directions.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a two way fluid flow control mechanism consisting of a minimum number of parts and capable of silent operation and with minimum vibration.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the valve mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows the valve mechanism of the present invention applied to a direct acting type.

hydraulic shock absorber for which it is particularly adapted.

Referring to the drawings the two way valve mechanism of the present invention is operative differentially to control fluid flow in opposite directions. It 'is particularly adapted to be used in a direct acting type hydraulic shock absorber as shown in Fig. 3. a valve cage 2D having a central opening 2| therethrough and arecess 22 in its one end. An annular ridge 23 in the bottom surface of this recess surrounds the opening 2| and provides a valve seat. The valve cage has provisions to iit into the tubular member or cylinder 24 of a' direct acting type hydraulic shock absorber. This comprises an annular wall 25 on the valve cage adapted snugly to t into the cylinder 24. An outwardly extending flange 26 provides a shoulder which engages the edge of the cylin- The mechanism comprises der 2f! when the valve mechanism is placed into 5 Claims. (Cl. 277-45) said opening so as to provide clearance between the outer wall of the tubular portion 32 and the inner surface of the opening 2| in the valve cage. The disc valve 30, as shown in Fig. 2, has a ringshaped plate 33 fitting about its larger diameter cylindrical extension 32, this plate forming the contacting surface of the disc-valve 30 engageable with the valve-seat 23. A notch 34 in said plate provides a constantly open iiuid now orifice adapted to permit a restricted uid iiow before said valve is moved from its seat.

A spring disc of any suitable resilient, sheet metal comprises a ring-shaped frame portion 35 fitting into the recess 22 of the valve cage and secured therein by swaging the edge 36 of the valve cage inwardly and over the ring portion 35. Extending inwardly and radially from said frame portion 35 are a plurality of resilient fingers 31, the inner ends of said ngers terminating short of the tubular portion 3| of the disc valve 30, the spring fingers being biased so that said ngers 31 will be pressed against the disc valve 30 at a predetermined pressure. This pressure is attained by predeterminately swaging the portion 36 of the valve cage 20 over and upon the ring portion 35 of the spring until the desired pressure by fingers 31 upon the disc valve 3l] is attained. Thus the disc valve 30 is yieldably urged upon its valve seat 23 in the valve cage bythe resilient fingers 31 which, having their inner ends in close proximity to the tubular portion 3| of said disc valve, providing thereby a guide to maintain said disc valve substantially concentric with the annular valve seat 23. This assures complete coverage of the opening 2| by said disc valve at all times said valve is seated upon the ridge. This spring with its ring portion 35 and radial fingers 3l not only urges the valve ltoward its seat but also provides a pilot for valve 30 and also limits its movement away from its seat 23.

A plug valve 4|) has a tubular end portion 4| which is slidably carried in the tubular portion 3| of the disc valve. The annular wall of the tubular portion 4| of the plug valve 40 has a slot 42 cut in one side thereof, this slot normally lying within the confines of the tubular portion of the disc valve 30 and thereby being normally closed. An outwardly extending annular flange 43 is provided on the valve plug 40 said flange engaging the inner surface of the disc valve 30 and being urged into such engagement by a spring 44 which surrounds the plug valve 40 and is interposed between the flange 43 thereof and an abutment spider 45 secured within the tubular portion 32 adjacent its outer end. The plug valve 40 extends through sorber surrounding the cylinder 24 and forming' the reservoir chamber 53. The shock absorber has a piston 5G in its cylinder 24, a piston operate ing rod 55 being attached to the piston lfandito the one relatively movable member 5S of the shock absorber Which is ada'ptedto-be-y secured-tof one of the relatively movable members -which'the shock absorber is adaptedto control. The other relatively movable portion of the .shock absorber f comprising the shoulder 24 and outer casing 52,

its end cap 5I and the attached mounting ring 56 are all connected with the other relatively movablev member fto. Vbeicontrolledi Piston 54 Vis provided with' any suitableffluid oW controll mechanism adapted toprovidefor the transfer of fluid-from one side lof Athe p iston to the other as it1 is` reciprocated.

Aslthe piston is moved downwardly in the cylinder-24 it exerts -apressurerupon Ythe uid displacement chamber 'furging some of the fluid into the vpiston oppositefthe displacement chame ber iBl which due '-to` the presenceof' the rodl 55 therein cannot receive all'of'the fluid-displaced from` chamber 65." Consequently the-fluid, not receivable by'chamberGL- exerts a pressure upon theplug'valve'iifofv the two'way valve me-hanism,` moving said plug'valve' 40 *relatively to the 'dis'cwvalvef30ffagainst theeiectf of spring 44 so 'that the range 43 of=theiplug-xvalve is moved from-1 engagement-with the-,disc valve y3f! and the slot '42'.in the `side' lvvalLol thetubular-portion 4l of the 'plug -valve luis movedzoutside `the connes 1 of Asaid'tubular portion i4 l'. thereby A'-establishing a `restricted fluid iow through-portion' 4 if; its-:slot l2l and their: throughfith'e' *tubular* aextenfV sion '32 ofv the -idiscxvalve 41ir1to the `Vcupshaped end-5 IA of the shock absorbent-and `fronti-there into the freservoir 53.3 As soonas fthe fuid fpressure uponl the plug rval-veiKiwis lreduced-prz eliminated; the zspringz'll kyreturns 'it to :its 'i normal position in Which Vthe ilange d3 engages'the. discavalve" 3U," inf which posi-tion the. side -slot 42f1'in said=plug valve4 is againwvitliin'the fcornnespf thetubular portion"` 4 I' 'of the disc valve f3 E ytherebyshutting offfluid ffl-'5w throughftheplugi'va-lve.

' As the piston'll vmovesupwardly 'in the cylinv der '2N-pressure upon-f the fluidfinchamber-"6I Willcause its displacement: through the -pistonfii intofthefchamber 69: The amount pfwfluidiin chamber 6|- is -not-fsuillcient,I :completely to fill the -requirements fof. "the -:chamber GB now being enlarged, thus the -discfvalve- 3B will be'lifted fromfits'seat?. intthevalvecage 2B against the eiect ofthe resilient nngers 3l of the lspring elementfthereby permitting rfluid to ow-from fthe reservoir'53 through-:the cup-shaped end member^5l thence y'throughthe opening 2|in the valvecagepast'the' valve Si) now off its sea-t into the chamberrlithereby- Vproviding suicient fluid to satisfy the demands'ofthe increasing chamber -60 asv the-piston '54 moves upwardly.-

' The present: valve mechanismis comparatively silent :inasmuch as--ivibrationswduring operation arel 'practically eliminated. The-provision of the side-slot .42 `inthe rplugezvalve 'M' will, when the valve'is. moved Yfrom itsrseat byiluid-pressure in chamber.:BO-,ficausenaxone'sideddischarge from the plug valve into the confines of the tubular portion 32 of the disc valve thereby setting up a reactive force which tends to urge the plug valve to one side maintaining it there due to the one sided discharge of the pressure under uid thereby practically eliminating the possibility of any vibrations by this valve due to iluid pressure acting thereupon to open "it,

The amount of bias 4given the'spring fingers 3l and therefore the pressure at Which said fingers urge valve Sii upon its seat 23 is governed bythe swaging of edge 36 over the ring portion 35 of the spring. The greater the swage over offedgej the-greater the pressure of spring Ylingers-3l' upon-valve 3B.

The spring with'its fingers 31 and ring portion 'fifnotonlydimits the movement of valve 30 from its seat 23 by acting as a positive stop but said vfingers also pilot the movement of said valve and keep it substantially concentric of the openingl 2l in the valve .cage especially.' when seated upon said cage;

From the aforegoingwit :maybe seenrthat the present invention provides `a valve of' simple, structure and design, consisting-of a minimum number of parts and adapted to4 provide fluid flow control in'two directions:

While the embodiments :of the Vpresentzinvention constitute a preferredformgit:is'to. be under.-A stood that other'forms 4mightzbe adopted, allA coming Within the fscope 'of' the cclaimswhich. follow.

What is claimed.' is -as .follows :1

1; A two Way' valve mechanism comprisingxinA combination, a centrally apertured valve cage having an annular ridge providing 'azvalveeseat surrounding one end'ofthe. aperture; a:di'sc valve* normally resting upon said valve-seat-saddiscvalve having-'a central openingfand tubular. portions extending from each side .thereoff a;spring comprising a frame portion securedto Vthe valve--` cage and resilient lingers extending from'. the frame, biased rto :engage and urge thexdis'c-valve upon its seatz'atfafpredetermined pressure;l the ends of the ngers terminating'in close proximityv to the one tubular extension onf-thervalve'for maintaining it central off-the valve-seat; a plug valve slidably supported Ain said Vone tubular ex-` tension,r normally closing the Ycentral opening in the disc valve' but Vmovable rto establish. a restrictedfflow therethrough; an abutment spidercarried by the other-tubular extensionvof the discvalve ;I and aspring interposed -between the -spider and plug valve yieldably urging said plug valve to close the opening in the disc-valve.

2. A-two way valvemechanism comprisingin combination, a valve cage lhavinga-central opening; a disc-.valve.restingguponone side of-the Valve-.cagegtoclose.its opening, sai'dldiscvalve having a central opening Yand atubular portionl of the same internal 'diameteras the opening Iextending yfrom oneside of'the'discxvalveland a larger diameter,Y cylindrical .portion extending from the opposite side of the-valve andthrough the valve-cage opening; a vspring-disc Lcomprising a comparatively-stiff;.ring shaped frame portion having resilient fingers extending radially in- Wardly, the frame fbeingesecured to the valve-cage tobias the -ngers .against the/disc-valveand urge it upon vthe valve-cage at a predetermined pres-v sure, the yends` ofzthe. respective A.lingers forming a guide for'said disc valve toikeep it substantially central of the valve-cage when'seated thereupon, theportion of the ngers adjacent the frame pro- .Y viding substant-ially `stiiler Aareasengaged by the valve for restricting the movement of the valve away from the valve-cage; a plug valve slidably supported in the central opening of the disc-valve, normally closing it but movable therein toward the larger diameter extension of said disc valve to permit iluid flow through said opening; an abutment spider supported by said larger diamen ter extension; and a spring interposed between the plug valve and abutment spider, yieldably urging the plug valve to close the opening in the disc valve.

3. A two-Way valve mechanism comprising in combination, a valve-cage having a central opening; an annular ridge on one side of the cage, surrounding the opening and forming a valveseat; a disc-valve having a central opening and a cylindrical portion of the same internal diameter as the valve opening extending from its one side and a larger diameter cylindrical portion extending frcm its opposite side and through the valve-cage opening; a ring shaped plate fitting about the larger diameter cylindrical extension of the disc-valve, providing the engaging surface of said valve adapted to seat upon the valve seat, said plate having a notch forming a constantly open oriiice when the valve plate engages the valve seat; a spring disc comprising a ring shaped frame having integral, radially inwardly extending, resilient ngers the inner ends of which form a guide to maintain the valve substantially ccncentric of the valve-seat particularly when resting upon it; means for attaching the spring disc to the valve-cage to bias the resilient fingers against the valve so that said iingers urge it and its ring plate upon the valve seat at a predetermined pres sure; a Valve plug normally closing the central opening in the disc-valve and movable into the larger diameter cylindrical extension on said discvalve to open said central op-ening; an abutment member in said larger cylindrical extension of the disc-valve; and a coil spring interposed between said member and plug-valve yieldably urging the latter to close the opening in the disc-valve.

4. A two way valve mechanism comprising in combination, a centrally apertured valve-cage; a

compound valve, one portion of which provides a disc-valve engaging the valve-cage to cover its aperture, said disc-valve having a central opening surrounded by a tubular extension normally closed by a sleeve-valve telescopically fitting into the central opening and its surrounding tubular extension; resilient iingers secured to and extending radially from the valve-cage, said fingers engaging and yieldably urging the disc-valve upon the valve-cage, the more adjacent ends of said fingers terminating in close proximity to the tubular exe tension for maintaining the disc-valve centrally of the aperture in the valve cage; and a spring yieldably urging the sleeve-valve to close the central opening in the disc-valve.

5. A two-way valve mechanism comprising in combination, a valve-cage, apertured centrally; a compound valve consisting of oppcsitely acting intake and pressure relief valves, the intake valve comprising a disc-like portion having a central opening and adapted to rest upon the valve-cage to cover the aperture therein, said portion having a tubulaiextensicn surrounding the opening, the pressure relief valve having a portion telescopically tting into the central opening in the intake valve normally to close it; spring fingers having their outer ends secured to the valve cage and extending radially inwardly thereof to engage and bias the intake valve upon the valve-cage, the inner ends of said ngers terminating near the tubular extension on the intake valve and acting as guides to hold the intake valve substantially central of the valve-cage aperture; and a spring supported by the intake valve and engaging the pressure relief valve. yieldably uring said relief valve to close the opening in the intake valve.

MEARICK FUNKHOUSER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the .ille of this patent:

I UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

